[Immunological aspects of bronchial asthma].

Advances in understanding of bronchial asthma are to be expected from more detailed information on the immuno-pathological mechanisms involved. Reaginic IgE antibodies are responsible for the great majority of extrinsic asthma, but in some cases immune complexes could probably be also important. A great progress has been achieved after reproducible methods for detecting cellular and serum specific IgE antibodies were introduced. Moreover, the immunological and biological changes induced by immunotherapy are better known. Standardization and purification of allergenic extracts is now under study in many laboratories, our own included. As concerns the intrinsic asthma attempts to demonstrate the importance of (auto) immune mechanisms have been performed. The results of these studies are reported.